Rise Of A Fallen Phoenix
by Ben10Extreme
Summary: "The Panda...he gravely irritates me. I was supposed to be sent to oblivion, but he delayed that for three months, so that he could prove that there was still 'good' in me. And he had the gall to say 'He can't let me give up on myself'. That's absurd...but I don't feel like being sent to oblivion, either. I'll cooperate for my own sake, not for his."
1. Three Months

**I have a new KFP story! And I don't think I need to say that this isn't in any way related to 'Tales of China'. This one is completely on it's own. It's also gonna be slightly longer than my other short stories. This one takes place solely in the 'Legends of Awesomeness' universe. It deals mostly with the events of 'Owl Be Back' and 'A Stitch in Time', along with a more compassionate-while still somewhat childish-Po, and a genuinely confused Fenghuang.**

 **Enough manipulations of time tends to bring up a few realizations. And Po has one right here that causes him to make a decision that might create a sea of consequences, but not severe enough to make him sway from following the decision made from his heart. And that's what confuses our Owl even further.**

 **This is starts right around the end of 'A Stitch In Time' and continues on it's own from there. If this gets enough attention, I might update it more often. It will have multiple chapters, yet not anywhere near as long as Tales of China. But it will still be long if enough are interested in it.**

 **Alright, let's begin!**

* * *

They were locked in a duel. A duel to the death.

They were currently trapped in a desolate area somewhat outside of time. This resulted from his current rival and competitor for the fruit of a mystical tree that serves to govern over time. The fruit of the Shuyong Tree. They both wanted the fruit for different reasons.

One wants the fruit for her own nefarious purposes.

The other simply wants his friends back. One has noble intentions, while the other wants to abuse the power to her own ends. One is currently the Dragon Warrior, while the other is a former member of the previous Furious Five. One is considered a growing hero. While the other is a villain who's fallen very far from heroism. Both of them are fighting for control over the timeline.

The panda known as Po, is currently doing battle against the Kung Fu Master known as Fenghuang. Both of them are widely acknowledged as prodigies, while the latter is obviously older and more experienced. And experience has allowed her to overcome the panda countless times, while creativity and unpredictability allowed him to overcome her in turn. She was obviously one of his most powerful and threatening foes yet. And she was also one of the closest to him.

He thought about it for a bit as they clashed around the Shuyong Tree. The very first time he met, he thought he would eventually turn evil. He in turn attempted to exile himself to the Northern Mountains like she did. Though when he made a crucial mistake and almost fell to his death, she was the one that saved him. She very well could have just left him to die, as she didn't know him and didn't have to care for him. But she did anyway.

 _You must be Fenghuang!_

 _Yes, and you must be three-hundred pouenough_

 _No...290, tops._

Saving him while not knowing who he is and how he could help her was not something he expected from someone who's fallen from grace. Fenghuang didn't have any obligation to save his life, but did so anyway. She then tried to turn him over to her side, the side of evil. While that certainly does sound unpleasant, there was a certain, hidden emotion under those desires involving ruling over the weak. A feeling of betrayal...and loneliness.

 _Ha, finally! Without Oogway, I can defeat Shifu and assume my rightful place as ruler of the Jade Palace. The strong must rule the weak, they will fall._

 _Wow, that is like classic evil ranting...Am I gonna be doing that?_

 _Yes. Yes, yes, yes you will. Evil will tempt you with her power and you will gladly accept. Come with me now Po. We will return to the Jade Palace and annihilate everyone that you once loved._

 _No, no! That's why I left, so I wouldn't hurt them. I can't let you go!_

The power went to her head. Now Po didn't want to mock Oogway because he still greatly respected the previous Grand Master. However, from that one exchange, Po could tell that a very important thing that he didn't teach the owl back in those days: Humility. It's not that his ego didn't get in the way sometimes, but Po always takes the better path in the end, no matter how bad things get...or how badly he messes things up. Fenghuang...she didn't have those experiences, and it only made her worse and worse over time. It eventually went to her head and she challenged the Grand Master herself...with obvious results. Still, she was unable to abandon that mindset.

The reason why she told Po not to care about his friends because they seemingly didn't care about his well-being, or that he was possibly turning evil. They never even lifted a finger to dissuade him. That was possibly what she went through. She was falling on the path of darkness...and no one made any real attempt to try and stop her. To try and help her. She doesn't allow herself to care about comrades anymore, since they discarded her so easily when she was deemed a lost cause.

 _You want to save THEM? The very same people who want you gone?! You think they CARE?!_

Fenghuang must have felt genuinely betrayed by her comrades. Her instincts told her to continue seeking power and to grow stronger, and her mind knew that it was leading her down a dark road she's unable to pull herself out of by herself. And despite this growing darkness in her heart, no one tried to stop her. It was her own choice, but they could have easily pulled her out of it if they actually put in the effort to do so. None of them did. Not even her Master. So she sunk further into darkness, and no one tried to save her.

Just like his own friends didn't really try hard to stop him from falling down a dark path. Instead, they just let him go without much care. He knew they were just afraid. But still, it wasn't like he doesn't understand what Fenghuang meant by her disbelief about him still wanting to save his friends despite them seemingly abandoning him to darkness.

Because that's what true friends do. Even if it isn't always mutual. It looks like Fenghuang's comrades didn't consider her as a friend. Her faith in companions has been shattered with both silent _and_ vocal betrayals. Thus she couldn't bring herself to believe in comrades anymore. She must have been so intent on becoming Po's teacher because they were so alike in that regard. For all intents and purposes, she might have genuinely intended on teaching him everything she knew. Though because his ties to his friends meant more to him, he used that hidden, unconscious weakness against her in order to capture her. There was genuine hurt an fury in her voice when she realized what happened, and the last connection to her possible redemption has been severed because he made a choice he felt was right.

 _I'll get you panda! **I'll get you.**_

Sometimes being the good guy...isn't as fulfilling as he would have liked. Sometimes it came with decisions harder than others. Crushing someone's chance of redemption in order to do the right thing does not always leave a good taste in his mouth. Fenghuang had a chance to turn over a new leaf, and he didn't do enough to help her reach that possibility. And now that he's seriously thinking about it...he felt terrible for allowing a majestic bird such as herself fall so far, and so low into disgrace, and that he didn't try harder. She's fallen so far and grown so dark because he allowed that seemingly last chance to slip away from her grasp.

The guilt was eating away at him as he clashed with the dark owl. And it wasn't just on his own mind. Throughout the battle, the Shuyong Tree has been sending these images into both of their minds seemingly for no reason. Fenghuang was briefly confused, but ultimately ignored it. It feels like the tree was unconsciously revealing to Po what he was thinking and why he was thinking these things...which only made him feel worse and worse as their battle raged.

...And yet at the same time...he was slowly realizing what he needed to do, and why he needed to do it.

Po was soon faced with the Tree's Judgement, and has made his decision. He slowly raises his head as he regained focus. Fenghuang was trapped in place, while he himself wasn't. Po took a deep breath and proceeded with his decision.

"If I hadn't broken the rules and messed with time, they'd all still be alive. I gotta make that right."

 _ **"In that case...I accept."**_

"What?!"

"You wish to bend the rules of time to your will, do you not?"

"...Well...just a _little_ bit..."

 _...Dang, this is going to be hard._ Po mentally bemoaned.

 _ **"And what do you wish, Po?"**_

"I just want to let things happen the way they were supposed to happen."

 _ **"That...is a worthy response."**_

"Uh...can I change my answer?"

 _Yep. This is going to be REALLY hard._ Po mentally facepalmed.

 _ **"You are wise, Po. A bit chatty, but wise. I won't give you my fruit, but I will give you what you seek. The mother of all do-overs."**_ As the mystic tree tells this to Po, Fenghuang was suddenly, forcefully thrown over a branch, and began falling into the abyss below.

" _No!_ I'm allergic to oblivion!"

"WAIT!" Po suddenly shouted out. Fenghuang's fall was eventually stopped, much to her confusion. He could feel the tree mentally raising an eyebrow at Po's interference. He took a deep breath and continued with his momentum. There was no taking it back now. "Um...do you HAVE to send her to oblivion? I mean, sending someone to oblivion is pretty harsh, you know? Can't you just let her off with a bit of a warning? A slap on the wing? A bit of a temporal pardon? There's such a thing as those, right? Temporal pardon?"

 _ **"Po...you do realize that her actions almost caused a total collapse of the time stream, had it not been for my interference. And you expect me to give her a second chance and just absolve her of her punishment?"**_ Po could hear the sheer amount of skepticism in it's voice. He could definitely understand why it was being skeptical. And had this been any other situation, he would have backed off right away. But right now...he couldn't allow himself to back down.

'That's a fair point. In fact, that's an _excellent_ point. But, I just feel...you know...maybe you can let her off a bit lighter than oblivion? I mean, I did it first, so I should have been the first one to be sent to oblivion. Though not before saving my friends. If I can set myself straight through a massive mistake, why can't she?" Po rubbed his neck slightly. "Sure she's done a lot of evil things, I can't deny that truth. But...there was a time in which she used to be a hero to China alongside the previous Furious Five."

 _ **"I am well aware of this, as it is written in history. However, those times has passed. Her heart has grown dark and cold from all of those years of desiring rule over those weaker than her. She even tried to sway you down that same path. And after failing in that, she continues to try and kill you and your friends. In this instance, she might as well have succeeded. And yet despite this, you still choose to defend her?"**_

Po sheepishly raised a paw, his eyes shifting from side to side. "Well...that too, is a perfectly logical argument, and also perfectly understandable..."

Fenghuang began falling again, and she rapidly flapped her wings in vain. "AAAAAH! STILL ALLERGIC! STILL ALLERGIC!"

"STOP! _PLEASE!_ " Po shouted desperately. Fenghuang once again stopped calling, and sighed in relief. Po also sighed softly, before becoming fully serious. Yet his voice turned to one of pleading as well. "Look...I know that Fenghuang has done some terrible things...and that might make her a somewhat terrible person...but...there's still a semblance of good in her. I see it...and I feel it."

 _ **"You believe so...?"**_

"I'm positive. The very first time we met, she saved me without knowing who I was or how I could be of use to her. She did it simply because she could...even though she was a bit rude about it. She can't be ALL bad if she saved me for no reason. Also, she made a very genuine effort to become closer to me, for me to become her student. She tried to sympathize with me due to the similar experiences we've had with our friends not helping us out during our supposed sink into darkness. I was lucky enough to snap myself out of it...luck Fenghuang didn't have." Po lowered his eyes. "Once our friends figured that we would turn evil, they pretty much lost a lot of faith in me keeping it together. They didn't even try to stop me from leaving. It...really...really hurt. But I put on a smile and looked past it. I'm not holding a grudge over it or anything. Still...my heart took quite a blow at that." Po sighed. "At the very least, my Dad didn't want me to leave. I could always count on him in some way or another."

Fenghuang narrowed her eyes at the panda, still unable to move any other part of her body. _What game are you playing, panda...?_

Po took another deep breath, and gazed at the tree strongly. "Don't you see? She steered herself down a dark path and none of her friends tried hard enough or even _cared_ enough to try. They just let her fall on her own and condemned her for doing so. She didn't get enough of a chance for her to pull herself together, which turned her into the owl she is today. And...I admit that I didn't really help matters by turning on her the way I did when I lead her to believe I was on her side. I'd like to think that if she had just one precious person that still believed she could be a good person back then, someone that wanted her around...she wouldn't have fallen as low as she had today. Mr. Ping, my father, is that person to me."

 _ **"Hmm...I can see that you feel strongly about this. And...what if I still refused your request to spare her from her fate?"**_

Po paused for a moment. Then he raised his head. "Will our timeline be restored from all the damage we've done to it...?"

 _ **"That is what you desired, yes."**_

"In that case...just go ahead and restore it. I'll join Fenghuang in oblivion. I think having good company will do her a bit of good, even if it's outside of time. It'll be tough, but my Dad will understand why I'm doing this."

"WHAT!?" Fenghuang's eyes widened as she heard Po's request.

 _ **"...That is...a rather odd request, Po. Are you sure this is what you truly desire?"**_

"What is your game, Panda?! You're being more foolish than usual right now!" Fenghuang shouted at him furiously. "You can't possibly think that I'm worth spending eternity in oblivion with just so I wouldn't be alone! I'm supposed to be your enemy! I was trying to _**KILL**_ you! Why are you making such a ridiculous sacrifice for me?!"

Po turned towards her. "It's like I said. I don't think being sent to oblivion is a very pretty way to go. So I want us to avoid that, if we can. I'd like to believe that we can."

"Still! Why are you so willing to make such a sacrifice for my sake! There's NO logic to what you're doing, _whatsoever!_ So why are you so determined to do this for me?!"

Po lowered his eyes. "You used to be a hero...now you're lonely. None of your friends tried to help you out of the hole you were sinking into. You actually tried reaching out to me. It may have been laced with evil intentions, but you were truly trying to be friends with me. I should have tried harder to be sympathetic with you. I may have taken a better path, but I could have helped you onto it. I didn't feel bad about it before...but all of this messing with time allows me to think deeply about that. It's hard for me to say in better words...but I'm better connected to you than most other enemies I've fought, because of similar past experiences with one another."

Fenghuang snarled. "Seriously? You're sparing me out of pity? I really must have sunken low if I have to be spared by the likes of _you_."

"Call it pity if you want...but there's no way that leaving you in oblivion will leave a good taste in my mouth. I don't think you deserve something that terrible."

"I do NOT need your-"

"I can't let you give up on yourself." Those words stopped Fenghuang in her tracks. She just floated there, open-beaked, unable to fully comprehend what he was saying and what it meant. She tried to find to find deception in his words, but she found none. All she could find was genuine compassion and sadness for a fellow warrior who's fallen so far astray because no one stood up for her.

He was completely serious.

The Shuyong Tree reacted to Po's heart.

 _ **"...You show a deep amount of compassion for an enemy you share a week connection with. It's rather strange...but it is very admirable. So...I shall grant your request and not send her into oblivion...but with a very specific condition."**_

"...And...what condition is that...?"

 _ **"Three months. Nothing more. If you can truly prove that Fenghuang does indeed still hold a semblance of her once noble heart, then I shall renounce her sentence. I don't need to tell you the consequences for failing, do I?"**_

"No. I got a pretty good idea." Po nodded, his eyes representing his inner resolve to succeed in this trial. Fenghuang was still trying to put her mind together and figure out what just happened.

 _ **"Very well. I shall fulfill your request. But remember... Three Months** _ _**."**_

Before Fenghuang could announce her protest, she and Po were enveloped in a bright flash of light...

And they felt everything reset to a certain point.

 **(Restored Timeline)**

Po opened his eyes after the bright flash of light. His vision cleared up and he realized that he was standing right where he would find the seeds. Not wasting any time, he quickly goes to retrieve them. The first thing he would do was quickly burn them so that Fenghuang doesn't blow her redemption quest before it began. Speaking of which...he turned to the doors of the Jade Palace, his eyes lowering halfway.

Hopefully she wouldn't attack the Jade Palace. That would be a definite step backward when it came to her newfound quest. After all, they only had three months. And time flies by.

 _...Okay, that pun was bad even for me...nah. It's still pretty funny._

 **(Northern Mountains)**

Fenghuang opened her eyes and swiftly stood up, her feathers blades sharpened and ready to impale anything that moved. She lowered said wings when she realized she was by herself in her cave, and remembered recently escaping from prison. She felt relief for still being alive...then that relief turned into burning rage that made her slam her talon on the ground, creating a web of cracks.

"THAT FAT BEAR DARE CLAIMS TO HAVE THE _**GALL**_ TO PITY ME?!" She shouted, her voice echoing off of the walls. "I didn't ask for him to save me! What makes him think that he can abuse my pride like that?! That's far worse than any blow he's landed on me during our confrontations! This is absolutely unacceptable! He must pay for this! I will make sure that I...I..." Fenghuang slowly calmed down and lowered her eyes, along with her wings.

At one point, she saved Po from falling to his death. This time, he pretty much did the same thing for her. Except he saved her from being erased from existence...which pretty much outweighs how she saved him by an extremely large degree. She was a rotten owl, she won't deny that. However...she can't simply quash a resolve such as that one, especially since he saved her life with that same resolve he fights her with. His compassion was foolish. It was moronic. It was...the only reason she's still alive, and not trapped outside of time for all eternity. While she definitely didn't like Po, she felt that she would dislike being trapped in oblivion even more. So in a way, whether she liked it or not...she held appreciation for his mercy. Mercy she wouldn't have shown him. Something he knew, yet he did so anyway. Just like she didn't even know who he was when they first met, and she saved him anyway.

She gently rubbed her wing as she stared out to the mountains, towards the direction of the Valley of Peace. Her eyes grew softer as she recounted the last thing he said to her before the timeline was restored.

 _I can't let you give up on yourself._

"...Why...why would you say such a thing...?" She whispered, her talons creating marks in the rock beneath her. "Everyone else has already...so why are you claiming yourself to be the exception...?"

She thought she had the panda completely figured out. This experience proved her wrong.

* * *

 **That concludes our first chapter of this story! Po's decision has been made and he isn't planning on backing out of it. Fenghuang has been spared, but only has three months to prove that she still has a heroic heart within her, or her sentence to oblivion will be absolute. Po is willing to help her, but will she accept that help? Will she condemn herself to a fate worse than death to spite Po?**

 **How will various characters react to their changes in interaction? Both heroes...and villains in the distance?**

 **As said, this won't be anywhere near as long as Tales of China, as it occurs solely in the universe of Legends of Awesomeness. Still, it'll be quite long. Many things can happen with this kind of decision. I have plenty to work with when it comes to just the Legends of Awesomeness universe. Po's compassion will cause problems for some during these three months. It's up to him to make sure that Fenghuang succeeds.**

 **Until next time, fellow readers!**


	2. Time-Travel Trauma

**Didn't update this in a while. I'm still planning on doing so, alongside Tales of Chins in a little while. The latter will come soon. Just not today.**

 **But for now, a chapter of this!**

* * *

Ever know about doing things in the heat of the moment? As in, making very drastic decisions without thinking too much about the results of your actions? Po tends to do that a does it so much it's considered an annoying habit sometimes. Other times, it saved their lives. But for right now, it's serving to be a very possible obstacle to his progress.

At first, Po was feeling incredibly proud of himself. He managed to talk a mystical tree who pretty much governs over time itself...to spare both himself and his enemy for constantly abusing the powers of time and the Shuyong Seeds. He truly did destroy the seeds so that neither of them can continue abusing them, whether it'd be through mischievous temptation or malicious intentions. Either way, neither of them can abuse their power anymore. And he also convinced the tree to give Fenghuang a second chance at life, to give her a chance to prove that she can still become a hero if she truly tried. He didn't fully expect it to actually agree, but he was glad that it did. And now they were back in their own world, before any of those terrible things happened. He had a chance.

But now he has to figure out what exactly he had to do next. He had to redeem someone who is considered irredeemable all across China in the timespan of three months. And she wouldn't do so very willingly. He was at least realistic about that. In all honesty, he could have begged for a bit more time than that. But he found it best to not tick off a time tree more than he already did with his shenanigans. He was grateful he even got a chance at all, so he won't complain about it too much.

...It still kind of sucked though.

For now, he just needed to get through the day as quickly as possible without arousing too much suspicion. Which means he simply has to act as natural as he possibly could. And he would do it without lying. Because after how many times he's lied, it's always blown up in his face. And after how dangerously close his lies almost made him lose his loved ones forever, it was the least he could do. Besides, the Dragon Warrior had to stay creditable. And even without that, it still wasn't okay for him to lie. But he wouldn't tell them the truth of what happened, either. Because by all means, it never happened, and he made sure it never did. It was better that he didn't.

And another thing that was important for him to do, was to take his training a bit more seriously. It was the only way he was going to stand a chance against Fenghuang. He needed to stay on her level in order to keep her in line and to keep her on her path of redemption. He knew it wasn't going to be easy, as she was able to drastically more powerful in such a short amount of time. As the Dragon Warrior, he was more than capable of doing the same thing. But he clearly lacked her work ethic and determination to do so.

Well that was going to end, starting today. He would sure as heck try, at the very least.

He could hear his comrades-still existing, thank goodness for that-waking up one after another, with Tigress obviously being first. He faced the facts, the only person who's ever going to wake up earlier than Tigress than Shifu. And the only way that someone like Po was ever going to be awake before them was if he _willingly_ doesn't sleep at all.

 _...HAH! Like that's ever gonna happen! I need my Panda Power Naps! They're essential!_ He shook his head and slapped his cheeks. _Okay Po, gotta focus! It's just another normal morning of training. DON'T be stupid. You might be 'slightly' traumatized by your friends disappearing from existence before your eyes, but that doesn't mean the routine is completely broken. Don't fall into Panda Panic. Act. Natural._

Po took a deep breath and slowly comes out of his room, standing up straight with his arms behind his back. "Howdy Master Fluffybuns! Howza goin'?!"

...He panicked at the last moment.

 _RADISH DARN IT! WHAT DID I LITERALLY **JUST** TELL MYSELF?! _

"Po?" Tigress was the one who called him out, and was seemingly gauging him to see if there was anything wrong. He briefly shook it off and smiled towards everyone with a raised paw.

"I'm perfectly fine, guys! I'm good! Had a good nights sleep, slept like a cub!" _A cub who's technically traumatized by events that technically never happened, so that's technically not a lie. Right? I hope not. Please just let them pass over it so I can get the morning over with...I said technically a lot at that moment. They'd be flabbergasted by my use of big words...I just did it again. Flabbergasted. I wonder who came up with-GAH! Stay focused, darn me!_

The other looked towards Po with various degrees of suspicion, but only Tigress and Viper's expressions represented concern. Especially the former. The feline was impressively good at making observation when she really pays attention. And she noticed even if it was only for a split second, how his jade eyes flashed with immense terror. His heartbeat increased for a moment to accompany the moment. It's as if he desperately needed to confirm that they were still there, standing before him. Only them did he managed to calm himself down.

He seemed to notice how deeply she was studying him, as he instantly turned away and clapped. "Well then! Let's not dilly dally in our rooms for too long! Better head to Training Hall of Training!" _What did I say about being stupid?!_ He inwardly criticized himself, while he outwardly cheered with a thrust of his fist and running off. He tripped a little bit, but regained his footing and continued rushing slightly. Monkey, Mantis, and Crane all looked at one another a little bit, until they simply shrugged and moved onward after him.

Viper slithered next to Tigress as they too made their way towards the Training Hall. "Is something wrong with Po? He seems jumpier than usual today. He was perfectly fine yesterday." She smiled awkwardly. "Well, as fine as being Po qualifies for."

"Yes. I noticed that too." Tigress responded as she still recalled that brief flash of terror in Po's eyes. What would trigger that sort of reaction? _A nightmare, perhaps?_ She had no idea how close she was to the truth after just a few glances. It was definitely a nightmare that Po experienced. What kind of nightmare remains completely unknown to her, though. And she didn't realize he planned on keeping it that way for as long as he could.

As Po himself made it to the Training Hall, his eyes closed, and he began to stumble a bit, holding his head. "Ugh...head...pain in head..." He grumbled while shaking it rapidly. It worsened. Not the best idea. As he opened his eyes...he found himself no longer in the Training Hall. But in the Hall of Heroes. "Wait, why am I-"

 _Shifu was attempting to go on the offensive. The owl has already managed to defeat the rest of their comrades, and he was currently knocked down for the moment. Shifu had knocked down Fenghuanf and attempted to stomp on her while she was in that position. She was faster. She avoided it easily enough and knocked him away. She them flew after him and caught him by his feet, carrying him up in the air for a couple moments as she slammed him into the ceiling...then she began to descend with her sharp talons digging into his chest as she stomped downwards. Po's eyes widened as he reached out and tried to shout, but nothing out._

 _The impact was powerful enough to shake the whole Palace. Dust picked up everywhere, and he had to cover his eyes to shield himself. Though once it cleared a little, his eyes widened as he saw Shifu's lying prone in the middle of the Hall of Heroes...lifeless. He ignored everything else and ran straight towards the smaller Master, shaking him._

 _"Shifu?! SHIFU!" Po shouted desperately. This wasn't exactly how the scene played out, but he didn't care about that. "Master don't do this to me, please! **SHIFU!** His Master was dying in his arms and he couldn't do anything about it. Except..._

 _Fenghuang's malicious laughter echoed through his mind, as well as her vicious caws. The air around her shifted as she dive bombs towards Po, her eyes slotted and eager to kill her current and last prey. His own eyes widened as he stepped away for a few moments, until he takes one of the Shuyong seeds out of the bag. Bracing for the relapse, he closed his eyes tightly and throws the seed at the ground, the haunting sound of a temporal gong filling his ears. During the blinding flash of light, he heard that same voice. The voice of the tree resonating within his ears._

 _"Her trial has begun, Panda. The best suggestion would be to seek her out, and begin her rehabilitation immediately. Unless you do not wish to save her after all..."_

 _...Po...? Po...? PO!_

"Huh?! Wha?!" Po's eyes widened as he swiftly sits up and looks around for a brief moment, noticing that everyone was gathered around him. This time they were ALL genuinely concerned. He groaned and rubbed his head. "Ugh...what happened to me...?"

"You passed out outta nowhere, man! We didn't think you were THAT tired!" Monkey said with a frown.

"Sleep deprivation?" Shifu questioned as he looked at Po a bit closely. By all means, it didn't look like Po had any signs of sleep deprivation, so that definitely wasn't the case. But seeing how Po was staring straight at Shifu, seeing that same flash of terror, followed by relief, that Tigress saw when they did Morning Rollcall, he couldn't simply deny that something was wrong with Po. And it was bad enough for him to completely pass out. And his eyes were completely wide and unresponsive, as Tigress tried waking up to her utter failure and panic. After confirming that Po was fully awake, Shifu stood up with his arms behind his back. "Po. You are not training for today. I want to see you in my barracks in a few minutes."

"What?!" Po's eyes widened. "But Master, I'm fine! Really, I just felt really lightheaded is all! Nothing serious!"

"Randomly falling down and not responding to anything for a few minutes when you're not sleepy nor hungry is not considered serious?" Shifu deadpanned, in which Po frowned in submission. "Meet me there. The rest of you may proceed as usual. Pick a partner while one observes." He explained as he walked along, with Po slumping his head in defeat.

 _First Day of the trial...I've sabotoged myself by having a flipping **DAYMARE** and then passing out on the floor! I haven't even formulated a proper plan and I'm already doing horribly..._

Like mentioned before, he decided on this in the heat of the moment ,not thinking about possible consequences of his actions. Like temporal flashbacks that may possibly serve to remind how idiotic he was...and how lethal some consequences of his actions would be. Time-Traveling comes with traumatic flashbacks, apparently. He's really beginning to regret finding those blasted seeds. The damage he did was tearing at his heart more than his mind. Though he then sees the faces of his friends looking worried about him. Especially Tigress and Viper. He felt his heart become a bit warm about how much they cared abou-

 _You want to save THEM?! The very same people that want you gone?! You think they CARE?!_

Her enraged voice echoed through his mind again, and he also once again remembers how they all just stood there and let him go off on his own, seemingly not caring about the dark path he was thinking of taking.

The relief leaves Po's face as he simply follows Shifu with his head lowered to the point his eyes were shadowed. Tigress watched him carefully, her frown becoming truly concerned as she saw three things flash in Po's eyes at once. Betrayal, Sadness...then Emptiness. Three things Po wasn't, and shouldn't be...and yet there it was. Too fast for the others to see or notice. But she did. And now she was genuinely worried about the panda as of now.

 _Po...?_

* * *

 **Time-Traveling Trauma plus feelings of betrayal. Not a good combo for Po. As mentioned in the previous chapter, he is genuinely not holding a grudge over how willingly his friends let him go off on his own 'Owl Be Back'. But his heart is still clearly aching over it.**

 **And time-travel has proven to be a very traumatizing experience when used irresponsibly. It makes you relive very unpleasant memories, even if it's from an erased timeline.**

 **In short, Po's not off to a great start. Here's hoping his momentum improves.**

 **No sassy owl for today. Though it won't stay that way for long.**


	3. Arrangements and Faith

**Hey there, it's another chapter! It's here, and we know follow up from the events of the previous chapter, obviously. It does involve our resident owl this time, like I said that it would. Words are exchanged, not-perfect-but-good-enough arrangements are made, and the whatnot.**

 **Let's begin!**

* * *

Po was twiddling his thumbs nervously as Shifu was giving him a rather stern eye. it was an eye that forbids Po to lie to him in any way, because he'll know when he's doing it. Fortunately-and unfortunately-for Po, he didn't necessarily have to lie in order to withhold his own personal problems that kind of involved everyone. It's come to his attention that unless it was his father, he couldn't divulge his darkest secrets to anyone. They just weren't on the same trust wavelength as his father, and that thought made him feel awful. In all honesty, he truly wanted to tell them, but his heart was adamant on not revealing it to anyone.

So he did the only thing he could do without fully breaking down...skirting around the truth without actually revealing it.

"Po...is everything all right?" Shifu eventually asked, his stern look eventually turning into one of concern. "I know you're a magnet for many strange happenings, but randomly passing out on the ground? That is certainly something worthy of my concern. You were perfectly fine the other day. Well, as perfectly fine that you usually are every day."

Po shook his head. "I had some pretty intense nightmares last night, Shifu. And I think that it kinda transformed into a daymare. I guess that I couldn't really handle it in the daytime. The nighttimes were bad enough. When I'm asleep, I can at least expect them. But daymares? I can't prepare for that. I'm pretty bad at preparing as it is, to be completely honest." _Just like how poorly prepared I was for this entire situation. I seriously gotta use my head more!_ Though that might be unlikely if he always acts with his heart first and his mind second.

Shifu was still staring at him intently, but concern still filled his eyes more than anything else. "Po...are you absolutely sure you're all right? Because if this continues past today, we will have to consider getting you some help if you can't manage in your own."

"I'm fine, Shifu. Really. I just gotta stay focused on getting through the day And I'll totally be all right!" Po laughed a bit while rubbing the back of his neck. He then turns to the side for a bit as he lowered his eyes. "I do want to go see Dad, though. You know, since I kinda live in two places at once and all...gets a bit awkward going place to place...and we don't want a repeat of when he tried licking with us-"

"I'd rather we not remind ourselves of that incident." Shifu groaned while he pressed his index fingers to his head and closed his eyes. "You thought you had the greatest misfortune because you were closer to him...these ears aren't just for show."

"I can see that. Those are some pretty big and effective ears. Pfft, unlike mine. Look how small these things are!" Po pouted while patting his own ears. "I'm surprised I can hear anything with these small things. Am I right?!"

Shifu turned to the side again. "It would certainly explain your rather sub-par listening skills..."

"Huh?"

"Nothing...nothing at all. I'm hesitant to do so, but you're free to go." Shifu waved him off a little bit. Po bow's quickly as he leaves the room just as quickly. Shifu was still hesitant to just let the panda go after just a light questioning. He wants to pass it off as simple nightmares and daymares, hut Shift's intuition was letting him know that it was something much deeper than that. There was no way it was a simple daymare.

Shifu could hear Po's heart when he collasped. It stopped completely for just a few moments, which brought the elder Master many degrees of panic before anyone else. Though before he took serious action, Po was able to wake himself up easily enough. It was highly concerning, but he could not force the panda to confess whatever is troubling him. Neither could the others.

Though one of them seems intent on giving it a try.

"Po."

Said panda jumped a bit as he turned towards the origin of the voice, which belonged to Tigress. He blushed a bit and waved his paw. "Oh! Tigress! Um...hi! Howdy do! What's up? What's crackin'?"

 _I remember when I said that I gotta STOP being stupid. I wonder happened to that?_

"Alright Po. What's going on with you?"

"...Nothing worth mentioning." Po rubbed his neck. He remembered when he said he was a terrible liar. Anxiety was not helping his case in the slightest. He can't always talk straight when around Tigress. She's too observant for his comfort.

"...Worth mentioning? With that phrasing, that's insinuating that there IS something going on with you. And you decided that it isn't something worth talking about." Tigress said with a sigh. "Why isn't it worth mentioning, Po?"

"Um... because it won't interfere with your or anyone else's training. I just gotta sort out some things on my own for a bit." Po raised his paws. "It's a pretty sound arrangement, if you ask me. I gotta go work some things out, while you guys just focus on your training. I won't be here to bother you with my antics? That's gotta be a win for you, doesn't it?"

 _I remember when my antics annoyed her enough to make her move away once...I don't want that to be repeated._ This was especially difficult for him since he was having a hard time staying focused after the event of the previous timelines. His mind was going through relapses of some kind. Having one's past interfered with so that they were never born...just like how Tigress was slowly disappearing before him right no-

"Po? PO!" Po blinked a bit and shook his head. His eyes were dilated for a few moments before returning to normal. Tigress was looking straight at him, much of her sternness gone and replaced with concern. "Po...you completely spaced out on me. Are you sure you're alright...?'

"Whaaaa? Pfft, I'm totally fine! I already told you, there's nothin' to worry about! Nothing worth you guys worrying about, anyway. It's just something I gotta do on my own for a while." Po said as he was stepping back. "And one of those things is going out to visit Dad! He's probably waiting for me right now! Gotta go, see ya Tigress!" He said quickly as he turned and ran, leaving her behind in seconds.

"Po, wai-" Tigress reached out for him, but he was already gone. She pulled her paw back as her ears flattened against her head. She sighed as she ran a paw across her face and simply returned to the Training Hall where her other friends were gathered.

Po soon made his way out of the Hall of Warriors and to the outside of the Palace, briefly closing the doors behind him. He groaned as he ran his paws down his face. "Gaaaaaah...give me a break. I haven't even truly started yet and this is already a huge hassle! Why does this have to be so difficult? And I can't shortcut my way out of this, either..."

"No you can't."

"Whoa!" Po jumped and looked behind him. A familiar owl was standing before him, looking graceful, powerful, and really, really angry. It didn't really register with him at first. "Oh. Hey Fenghuang. What are you doing here?"

"Don't play dumber than you usually are, _Panda_. What's your game?" Fenghuang asked angrily, folding her wings and tapping her talons on the ground.

Po blinked owlishly...no pun intended. "Whaddya mean? I'm not playing any games...unless I'm playing a game unknowingly, and I'm losing..."

"I just said don't play dumber! You're not getting out of this! Now TALK!" Fenghuang snarled.

Po sighed. And he just complained about how this was getting more difficult than it needs to be. He definitely didn't need this so early in the morning. "I'm not playing any games, Fenghuang. I did what I did entirely on my own accord. I wanted to save you, and was willing to do whatever I could to do it. I wouldn't take such a drastic risk on something i didn't feel like I believed in. I believed in the decision I made, and I do want to keep it."

Fenghuang still snarled at him for a bit. He was saying this like it was so simple. As simple as daily breathing. Yet she didn't seem entirely convinced by what he said and did. "And just why in the world would you care, huh? Why were you do insistent on keeping me from falling to my fate? You saw what I did, you saw it yourself. You know just how terrible I am, and you know how big a threat I am. How is it that you know all of this, yet you still felt the need to save my life? There's no rhyme or reason to it."

"Maybe I just wanted to. I don't need a reason to save someone." Po said with a shrug. "Not everyone thinks before they act. I think you should know this about me by know, more than any of my other enemies. I'm not someone who always thinks before I act. Sometimes I just act. There are times it doesn't go well, but sometimes it does. And even when it would do me better to just think a little more, I just go back to acting how I usually do. I don't really do a lot of thinking. But there are times that not thinking ahead works for me too. I mean, I don't necessarily think very hard when it comes to helping my loved ones. Whe I feel like they're in some kind of trouble, I just go out and help them."

"You didn't answer my question, properly." Po could see the owl gradually losing her patience, her talon tapping beginning to crack the ground. "I already know full well that you get even stupider when your friends and family are involved. You'll save them by any means necessary. But why _me_? Why awere you so insistent on saving your enemy, someone you betrayed in our very first major interaction?"

"I related to. I really didn't want to have to fight you. But you were threatening my friends. You gave me no choice."

"The very same _friends_ that were more than content with letting you fall off the deep end of your morality?"

"I don't like holding grudges, they tend to do some messed up things to your mind and emotions when you hold them for far too long. I care about them too much to let something so small break the bonds I built with them." Po gently smiled. "And of course my Dad didn't have any thoughts about me being evil, not at all. Unlike the others, who were pretty nonchalant about it, he was hurt. But he also respected my decision." He then rubbed his neck a bit. "Yeah. So my friends didn't really do so good in standing up for me...but I can look past that. Sometimes we just have off days, bad days, and the such. Maybe that's why you had such a falling out with your old team...?"

"What is supposed to mean?"

"Maybe the reason why you we so determined to prove you were so strong was to prove yourself to your friends? You got so strong, you were so full of pride...you just wanted them to further acknowledge you, did you?" Po tilted his head as the wind broke, and Fenghuang's sharp feathers were now pointed mere inches from his eyes. He was briefly confused by this, while Fenghuang's eyes actually glowed a bit in pure rage.

" **You know _NOTHING_ about me, panda.**" She snarled, fully intending on slashing his eyes out the second he voices his next statement.

"You're right. I don't...but I would like to."

"..." The owl's rage vanished instantly as her wings lowered and her eyes widened in disbelief. "...Come again?"

Po smiled and pumped his fist. "Yeah, that's it! I have to prove to the Shuyong tree that you can still be a good person if you try! And of course the only way I'm gonna start making significant progress is that I get to know you better! So that's what we'll do. I'll visit you whenever I can at the Northern Mountains, and we can have little chats here and there." He then pounded his fist into his palm. "Ya know what, yeah! This can work! After all, what better way to express ourselves than through actions?"

"For a man of action, you sure do a lot of talking." Fenghuang muttered. "...You're being disgustingly optimistic about this. You think you can change decades of dark emotions in the span of three months? Preposterous. Why do you feel the need to take such a stupid risk for a lost cause?"

"I already told you, I won't let you give up on yourself." Po repeated his words form before, a little more seriously. "You're not a lost cause, Fenghuang. It's just that no one ever took the time to really give you a chance. Even Oogway managed to mess that up a bit by not giving you a chance to change yourself, he just resorted immediately to imprisoning you. You deserve a better chance than that. You deserve to prove yourself properly."

"...But why?"

"I don't need a reason. I want to help you, Fenghuang. You can become a better person if you try. But I know you can't do it on your own, so I'll be right there helping you."

"...You...you..." Fenghuang began, trying to find her words, wondering where all of her confidence disappeared to. "You...really believe in me that much...? Do you seriously believe in me that muh...?"

"I'm not saying it will be easy. But then again, most of our greatest achievements are ones we struggle for. Ya think it was easy for me to prove I'm the real deal Dragon Warrior? Geez, _I_ didn't believe in me back then. But Shifu saw my potential. He eventually began believing in me when no one but my father ever has. No one else believes you can change for the better, Fenghuang. But I do, I really do." he spreads his arms out a little bit, a small smile gracing him. "I mean, we at least have to try, right? There has to be something much better than being erased entirely. No one deserves that, especially when they weren't given a chance?"

"And...you're one who believes that I do deserve a chance? The entirety of China know me as someone to be feared, and to keep locked away. Are you _**really**_ going to defy all of that just for my sake? You'd be the only one who believes so strongly in my little redemption quest."

"Sometimes one person is all it takes."

Fenghuang's anger vanished completely, now her owlish purple eyes simply stared back into Po's jade eyes. There wasn't a single deceitful element to be found within them. They were completely honest. Childish and naive, still learning about the world around him...but there was no doubt that he means what he said. He believes that strongly in her when no one else is willing to give her the chance. Even _Oogway_ didn't really give her a chance. He was _hesitant_ to imprison her, but he still had all intentions on doing so. Po actually finds hope in becoming the person she used to be. A hero.

 _He's...serious..he's really serious. What he's saying is utterly ridiculous, and his genuine desire to fulfill hsi goal is even more so. And yet...he's still..._

Fenghuang eventually shook her head and stepped away from Po, tucking in her wings. "Fine, Panda. Fine. We'll do it your way. Whenever you have the time, meet me at the Northern Mountains. Remember, we only have three months to do this thing before I'm erased from existence. I'd much rather keep existing. My pride doesn't run so far as to refuse your help and get erased."

"Great! I gotta go see Dad. I'll see you later!" Po said as he rushed past her quickly, leaving her to ponder over this arrangement they made together. So this was it. They had three months to reform her before she is erased from time for her crimes. As she said, she'd rather try this than allow herself to be erased. Her pride doesn't run that far. Even through that, this seems to be an impossible quest that will ultimately end in failure. But she feels the need to try anyway.

For her own survival, of course. Certainly not for the reason that she wants to avoid disappointing the first person in decades who showed such immense faith in her, and that person is supposed to be her worst enemy. She groaned and immediately facewinged before simply flying off, back towards the Northern Mountains.

 _How did I lose so much control over my life? Oh yeah, I tried to control time itself._ She frowned. _To be perfectly honest...maaayyybee I went too far..._

* * *

 **Maybe? MAYBE? Time has and always will be one of those things that cannot be handled without severe consequences.**

 **Seriously. Time is one of thse things you DON'T carelessly mess with, no matter how clever you _think_ are. **

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Await the next chapter!**


	4. Rehabilitation Begins

**Two enemies try to learn more about each other before they even think about redeeming one of them. Knowledge is power, after all.**

* * *

"And there we go! Last customer of the day!" Po says with a deep sigh of relief as he removes his apron and neatly folds it before putting it away. After a pretty awkward encounter with the owl master a few hours ago, Po was successful in working away that awkwardness alongside his father Mr. Ping. Good thing too, as it allowed him some time to think about how he was going to approach this, and his far would he be able to go with Fenghuang in regards to her redemption. He had plenty of ideas. But one thing was a constant between all of those ideas...it wasn't going to be easy. not in the slightest.

He was dealing with the likes of Fenghuang, after all.

"Great job today, son! You seem more focused than usual!" Mr. Ping said, pleasantly surprised by the amount of work Po put in, removing his own apron and setting it aside. "You seem to be in a hurry for something. Do you have somewhere to be?"

"I guess you could say that." Po said while stretching his arms out and jumping in place for a bit. "I'm psyching myself up, because I'm gonna need it. I'm gonna be meeting someone in private. My friends at the Jade Palace can't really know about it, or they'd freak out."

"Why is that?" Mr. Ping asked suspiciously. Knowing the goose, he jumped to conclusions for a bit, and swiftly folded his arms. "Son...is this person you're visiting...a woman?"

Po blinked, and he twiddled his fingers awkwardly, not wanting to say the owl's name. "...Uh...technically she _does_ count as a female, bu-"

"Goodness gracious, son. Did ANOTHER woman fall for you and you didn't tell me?!"

Po looked baffled. "What do you mean by _another_ , Dad? Women don't fall for me like that, if at all!" Po's somewhat poor memory failed to remind him on how utterly wrong he was. And the fangirls via Dragon Warrior status didn't count. Mr. Ping distinctively remembers a dummy of Po that the panda himself made for everyone to beat up in his place. Tigress was awfully playful with it when no one was watching, while he swore that Viper has kissed it after wrapping it in a ribbon. Not to mention there was the now reformed Song, who's heart Po managed to warm just by being nice to her. Instances like this happened more than once.

Mr. Ping was beginning to think that Po attracted more than just trouble. Or maybe he was simply remembering wrong. Whichever comes first.

"Look, it's nothing TOO super serious, Dad. I can handle this." Po reassured, not going into deep detail about what exactly he was dealing with, and the amount of danger he was putting himself in for someone who hated him. This was _obviously_ going to be a fun time, a time he preferred that no one knows about.

 _...Okay. That's not a safe way to think about the situation._

"Well...okay son. I just want you to be careful. Who knows what could happen that we're rarely prepared for? Raising you, this is a bit of a certainty." Po smiled as he wraps his father in a hug, who kindly returns it, as well as reaching up a bit to kiss his cheek. "Be good."

"I'll be fine, trust me." Po smiled. Though on the inside, he still felt a bit anxious about this entire thing.

 _This is gonna be awkward._

* * *

Making his way up towards the Northern Mountains wasn't very easy for Po. Climbing entire mountains was something he was definitely capable of doing...especially when it became vry apparent that the owl wasn't going to fly him up to her home. Nope, the panda had to seriously climb the mountain by himself with no one to help him. Of course Po being Po, he was more than ready for the challenge. Heck, it was child's play. Climbing the Northern Mountains without flight assistance? Or any assistance at all? No problem! No challenge was too daunting for the almighty Dragon Wa-

"Oh for the love of dumplings this is so hard! Why are mountains so big?!"

...Nevermind. Forgot to mention that Po's inner child tends to be out often. Maturity is one thing he hasn't completely mastered.

Regardless of this, he pushed on, ever determined to surpass this mountain that stood in the way between him and the owl he was set to turn around. Though the cold was definitely not helping matters, he was able to ignore it for the most part, since he was covered with much fur and fat that kept him warm for the most part. One of the many times that his fat has managed to greatly assist him more than hinder him, proving that his most pathetic weakness in the eyes of others have become his greatest strength. That is something he's learned to take great pride in...though he would appreciate it if people wouldn't bring it up so negatively so frequently. All he asked. The jabs at his weight used to be self-esteem crushing, but now that he had much more confidence in himself, he was more annoyed than anything.

But enough about that, he was climbing a mountain while simultaneously trying to think of some way to speak to Fenghuang without her immediately trying to kick him off of said mountain. He wanted to avoid scenarios like that, because they would be...rather painful to experience. Yes, he'd like to avoid being unceremoniously kicked off a mountain, he didn't need that to be added to the number of things he fell down that resulted in copious amounts of pain. Well, he did say he wanted to know more about her before he could even think about helping her change herself for the better. It was the only way either of them could even manage a competent start with this goal of theirs to ensure her survival.

After a while-half an hour at the very least-Po managed to make his way to her cave, then flopped on his back, his belly jiggling slightly as he did so. He panted heavily, feeling multiple regrets about not bringing something to eat with him. He slowly sits up after his breather as he rubs his neck. "Geez...that was a rough climb...really rough."

"Oh, look who it is." He could hear the owl's voice echo throughout the cave. Sure enough, she was standing within the darker part of the cave before making her way towards him with an annoyed huff. "I gotta say, panda, I didn't expect you to actually live up to your word. You actually came all the way up here to see little ol' me...how disgustingly noble of you." She huffs again while briefly preening her feathers.

"Ya know...it would be courteous of you if you have offered a wing to helo me climb the mountain...that would have been real nice of you..."

"Awww, but you're the Dragon Warrior! _Surely_ you're capable of scaling a large mountain by yourself?" Fenghuang mocked playfully, rolling her eyes. "Noooo! Why would you ever need _my_ help to climb some cold, icy, large mountain where you can _easily_ fall to your death with a wrongly placed misstep? I wouldn't want to take away your achievement of doing it _alllll_ by yourself, like a big boy!~" She chuckled. "Oh, but you ARE a big boy, aren't ya?~"

"Ha ha. What a creative fat joke. And here I thought _I_ was the immature one." Po rolled his eyes, unimpressed.

"You're snarking me right back, panda? I have to say...not bad." Fenghuang admitted, turning around. "Alright let's get this nonsense over with. What are we gonna talk about?"

"That's more like it." Po smiled as he stood up and began pacing back and forth within the cave. "So the initial things that I know about you...you were once a prized student of Oogway's alongside the rest of the former Furious Five. Over time, you undeniably became the most powerful of the Five...and that was the time that you've turned evil."

"That sums it up quite well, yes."I just gotta ask...why?" Po turned towards her, genuinely wanting an answer. "Why would you willingly throw away your friendships and your connections to prove that you were the strongest within the Jade Palace?"

Fenghuang's eyes met Po's, and they narrowed just slightly in response. "The strongest should prove themselves worthy of ruling over the weak. As I grew stronger, I couldn't really identify myself with those weaker than me. I wanted to prove that I was more than capable of being the most powerful Master within the Jade Palace, thus I should take over Oogway's status as ruler of the Jade Palace. He denied be that, and was intent on imprisoning me for it. I was intent on growing stronger so I could overthrow him one day...though once I learned from you that he was no longer with us, it was hard to resist trying to take it over now that it's founder has passed on. At that time, I was definitely the strongest...but then _YOU_ denied me that right!"

"We were getting along just fine because I thought that I would turn evil like you. But then you made it clear that you were intending to kill Shifu and my friends. I couldn't just sit around and let that happen!" Po said while spreading his arms a bit. "I left them because I was afraid of hurting them. But then you were actually intent on hurting them. I wanted to stop you, and I was fully intent on doing so. And I did."

"You _betrayed_ me. Just like they did! You sided with the ones who did me wrong, misleading me into believing that you cared for me, actually tried to befriend me." Fenghuang narrowed her eyes darkly. "I should have known you'd try something like that. You turned your back on me for the ones who were intent on condemning you. Who were _going_ to condemn you when they believe that it would benefit them. Those _friends_ of yours aren't nearly as noble as you make them out to be. They'll toss you to the side the very second that you prove yourself to be someone they can't control."

"That's not true. They were just afraid of what I might become if I had let myself give into that rumor. I don't believe that they would do something like that if they knew that there was a way to save me or snap me out of it. To put it shortly, they would give me a chance to set myself straight." Po said with shakey yet determined self-reassurance. "They won't betray me, I'll never give them a reason to. I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I'm no backstabber. I actually care about all of them as if they were family. I wouldn't trade them for anything. Especially for something as meaningless as a power trip via status. It doesn't mean much if no one can truly acknowledge you for it, especially since you tried to force your way to power. Fear and respect aren't the same thing."

"Bah! You're spouting all of that garbage about friends and family. Why should I care about something like that? Especially since they were so eager to throw me aside the moment I became too much for them to handle. They were planning on locking me in a box for such a long time, why should I trust them if they will never trust me? _Oogway_ didn't trust me, even BEFORE I turned evil."

"I already admitted that was Oogway's mistake. He didn't give you a proper chance. None of them did, even though they really should have." Po said gently, his arms falling to their sides. "You know what you did wrong, and why you did it. Now is the time for you to take the choices towards making up for those wrongs whenever you can. You can still become the hero that you used to be, but you have to believe that you have that option. It's not too late, Fenghuang. You can take the chance to better yourself instead of continuing to spiral into darkness. You can't really prefer living alone in this cave over gaining friends while trying to better yourself."

"...Tch. You're far too soft. In more ways than one, might I add." Fenguang huffed, lifting up her talon and lightly tapping po's belly, which made him frown a bit. "Always talking about peace and being with friends and family, and talking about gaining the favor of the defenseless. Why should i have to change myself for the sake of some spineless fools who can't fend for themselves? Why should I risk my life and reputation for those idiots? They turned on me just as easily as the others. I don't see why I have to risk myself for them!" She swiped her wing to the side. "And as for you, I dont think you're in any position to be lecturing me about what's right or wrong. I happen to know that you've had your share of highly questionable choices yourself, and they don't really align themselves to the category of goodness."

Po lowered his eyes. "Fenghuang...I'm young and talented...but I'm also inexperienced and not that smart. Mentally, spiritually, and physically inexperienced. That's why I still have a teacher who's willing to help me through the tougher times of life, this is why I can appreciate Shifu and what he and the others do for me. We never stop learning about the world, as well as ourselves. I'll still be making obvious mistakes, but I'll be able to learn from them and grow that much stronger and wiser from it. Fenghuang...you're stronger, wiser, and know much more about the world than me...yet you blatantly chose to be evil. You don't have as many excuses as I do. And some of them aren't very justified when you think about it." Fenghuang was silent during this bit, in which Po guessed he caught her attention. "As for me being soft...well, that isn't always true."

" _Please_. You're the very definition of soft! You allow people to walk all over you without any noteworthy efforts at retaliation! What else would you call that?"

"You do remember who took out Tai Lung, do you?" Po said quietly, which caused Fenghuang to pause again. "He was a bad dude. The others tried to get through to him. No one could get through to him, not even his father. He wanted to find the true meaning of the Dragon Scroll, but his arrogance prevented him from doing such a thing, in which I've succeeded. I gave him one more chance to turn himself around, but he didn't take it. So...I did what I had to do before he hurt anyone else." Po narrowed his eyes. "And I'm sure you've also heard of my battle with Ke-Pa. If you rememeber, Oogway sealed him and his fellow demons away so they couldn't hurt the Valley or it's people anymore. Once they were released because of _my_ arrogance, I took responsibility. I sealed away the demons...but i took it a step further with Ke-Pa. i destroyed him outright."

Fenghuang blinked in surprise. That story honestly never reached her, but she was surely intrigued by the thought of Po being so ruthless to an enemy. "You try to show mercy to Tai Lung, that failed. And you try showing mercy to me so I can turn myself around. Tell me, panda. What makes our cases so different from Ke-Pa?"

"You both were misguided and became the way you were because you thought you were completely abandoned. Tai Lung was given a chance to better himself, he refused. So I had to take him out. You're a work in progress as you used to be a hero who simply lost her way. You at least still have a chance. Ke-Pa...he was outright going to destroy the world. I put a stop to that before it had a chance to escalate further. He was rotten from the get-go. No second chances for pure evil like him. I'm that sort of panda."

Fenghuang had to admit, at least in that aspect, she was wrong about the panda. He was perfectly capable of putting down genuinely evil people if that's what it comes to. It's just that he mostly prefers that it _doesn't_ come to that. It's not something he would lose sleep over, he confirmed that right to her face. Fenghuang should probably count herself lucky. he very well could have left her to her fate without looking back or thinking twice, but his compassion got in the way of that. She had no idea how close she was to dying with no way of returning, and she now knew that had he chosen to leave her to her fate, he wouldn't have batted an eye.

Her respect for the panda grew with this new information.

"...It would seem that we both learned something interesting about one another. Though I seem to have learned more about you than vice versa. Not that I find that to be a bad thing. Just...interesting. Someone so kind can be so merciless to the truly vile. It's quite a twist." Fenghuang noted. "Say...why is it that you act so humble most of the time?"

Po shrugged. "I've had plenty of bad days while I was growing up...just made me appreciate the good days even more. I stopped taking those days for granted. I'm glad my Dad helped me realize that, and I'm certainly going to put it into practice more often."

Fenghuang raised an eyebrow. "Ah. So it was your father who imported most of your morals into you. That's interesting as well. I don't think I've met him face to face...maybe I should start. See what the fuss is about."

Po blinked softly, before laughing a bit and rubbing his neck. "Yeah...my Dad won't be too keen about meeting you in person. He doesn't know that I'm seeing you. He trusts that I know what I'm doing."

"So you DON'T want me to meet your father?"

"I have to accept that at some point, I have to introduce you two properly to help with your redemption quest. He might even be able to help out a bit." Po frowned a bit. "But not yet. We should wait for a little bit before we even think about something like that. Right now he doesn't need to know."

"...Alright. I can accept that term. The less who know about this before they're ready, the better." Fenghuang waved him off, turning her back on him. "Okay, we're done for today. Get out of here before I decide to take my chances with being erased."

"...Please try to hold onto hope, Fenghuang." Po said softly as he turns to leave the owl behind, sighing deeply as he realized he would have to climb down by himself. She wasn't offering to fly him down, so he was just going to have to deal with it.

* * *

 **They now know more about each other. But that didn't mean she was going to give him a free flight down the mountain. But rest assured, he did indeed have an impact on her, no matter how small.**

 **All that matters is that they've began, despite knowing the difficulty. Pushing through challenges is something they can both share, at the very least.**


	5. Humility Or Self-Depreciation?

Tigress usually didn't worry too much about Po. In some ways, that mindset would somewhat undermine the fact that he was very much capable of taking care of himself. Yet at the sane time, she couldn't exactly turn away from that mindset whenever she wanted. It was exactly because they were friends that the worry in the back of her mind was never going to let up at times like this. It simply wasn't going to happen.

But she was making sure to be mature about it, accepting it without a fuss instead of trying to vehemently deny it. Her pride wasn't worth that kind of mental and emotional hassle, no matter what her instincts might say otherwise. No, she has fully come to accept that she does deeply care about Po, worries about him, she might even be fiercely protective of him when things truly get serious. She never says any of these things aloud, though. She lacks the social tact to do it effectively, something she regrets not learning. Of course, she can now take the time to learn it. But for the time being, she mostly stayed silent.

Though she found that slightly hard to do over the course of a few weeks since Po passed out. Something had changed quite drastically.

While it would never be a question that Po was a good person, ever since he began living up to his status as the Dragon Warrior, he has grown very confident in himself...sometimes to the point of annoying everyone around him. He's boastful to the point of slight arrogance-not that he couldn't back it up, but STILL-he tends to dismiss training to slack off, earning the burning ire of Shifu at times, and he's also very slow to take things seriously right from the beginning. Though that might be closer to childish naivety than overconfidence. While it was true that Po was exceptionally talented and sometimes overindulged in that fact, they all had to remember that he was younger than most of them. He was still learning.

Though over the course of two weeks ever since he passed out, there has been something noticeably different with him. Many things, actually.

Firstly, his boasts about how 'bodaciously awesome' he is has all but stopped completely. Now he's more focused on simply getting the ob done and returning home as soon as he possibly could, without becoming a hassle to his dear friends. If anything, he seems to have become quite shy when it comes to his achievements over the course of said week. He has been training much more seriously over the weeks, usually letting his friends go first before himself. and giving them much levels of praise while never really boasting over himself. He listens to Shifu much more attentively than ever. He spends much more time with his father without drastically lowering his time training in the Jade Palace. He's seen cooking for the team nearly every single day, and with a big, kind smile on his face. Though he also told them to make sure they properly work off all of that food so they don't get slow and sluggish again.

As much as their taste buds greatly appreciate Po's cooking mastery, none of them show any interest in letting their skills dwindle again. Though neither Monkey or Mantis-and even Viper, considering she sometimes eats just as much as Po-voice any complaints about this. It was at this point that Tigress was slightly suspicious about Po's behavior, it was almost completely like how he first approached the Jade Palace, when most of them-again, aside from Viper and Crane, slightly-were quite antagonistic towards him. Though Tigress herself was the absolute worst towards him, outright implying that he was completely worthless. It was only after the defeat of Tai Lung that Shifu and Mr. Ping has informed them about his cripplingly low self-esteem because he was the only panda around, which wasn't helped by how everyone was treating him in the Palace when he was thrown into a situation he had little to no control over.

Most of them were too ashamed to even apologize. Even though he certainly became much more annoying the more confidence he gained, they preferred that over him feeling like a waste of effort. It was with this that they've become **_extremely_** protective of him. Viper and Tigress were most prevailent on good days. Po has arguably become the best thing that's ever entered their lives, whether some of them chose to admit it or not. No matter how annoyed they were with him sometimes, it would never be enough to completely let him go.

So the concern that Tigress felt for the usually jolly panda has come to a head one day. And it was with that day, that her concern has spread to nearly everyone else.

"Now Fung. Everyone here has been having a very rough time with all of these bandit attacks you keep springing on them. It's starting to really decrease civilian morale." Po said while leading Fung out of the village with a few pats on the back. "Tell ya what. Just come back to my place tomorrow morning, you and I can have some tea and chat a little. Ya know, as buddies."

"Um...okay. I guess I can do that." Fung blinked a bit owlishly, unsure of the fact that he was being let off so easily, and was even offered to spend some friendly time with Po. He didn't know where that came from, but he supposed anything was better than painful blaccrippling was totally the LAST thing he needed to experience, so he politely accepts the offer and goes on his merry way without a hassle. Just the way Po prefers.

"Alrighty then, good! No need to fight for today." Po nodded as he turned around and made his way back to the Jade Palace, rubbing his chin. _I wonder what the others feel like having tonight? I'll be able to manage something quite well with the right ingredients! Though I probably shouldn't overdo it. WOuldn't want the girls to suddenly gripe at me for making everything too amazing for them._ Po still considered his cooking skill a bit amatuerish compared to his father's, which was saying a lot about Mr. Ping's skills as a cook. It was utterly amazing how the two were able to do what they do. And to think, the two of them usually cook for the Jade Palace residents completely for FREE. They truly didn't know how to show their grand gratitude for something so great.

As he-eventually-makes it up the Thousand Steps with various degrees of trouble, he opens the doors to the Hall of Warriors. There he makes his way through with no trouble. Because so many bad things tend to happen in here, he made sure he doesn't break anything...again. Breakable things don't really survive long when he was feeling especially clumsy. He made sure to keep this in check while making his way through.

It was a bit strange, though. The first and third times he's fought Fenghuang personally was in the Hall of Warriors. Both of those times very nearly resulted in someone getting killed. Well...the third time _did_ result in someone getting killed. And that someone was Shifu. He had to continously rewind time with the seeds in order to save him...which allowed Fenghuang to atch on and anipulate the power for herself. Thinking back, he felt especially foolish for allowing that to happen. Everyone else was here fighting the ppowerful owl with their lives on the brink, while a majority of that time he was busy relaxing in his hammock, being very full of himself in being untouchable with the seed's power...it came to him that he could have prevented that entire incident if he had just **_been there_**. he should have never found those seeds. And even disregarding that, he should have _**never**_ let the power go to his head. His foolish overconfidence led to everyone nearly dying with no way of recovery.

Everyone almost permanently died because of his overconfidence and simply not listening to blatant wanings. There was inexperience, and then there was outright foolishness. How many times was he going to allow these things to happen until he learned? He can't allow himself to let that happen again. He couldn't, he shouldn't, and he wouldn't. What he was arranging with Fenghuang was a dangerous situation, but letting her die when she was once a great hero wouldn't sit well on his conscience. Unlike the other times, he was cautiously optimistic about his chances of getting through to her. He was fully aware of a chance of failure, and the consequences of said failure would surely severe. He at least had to try, though. He couldn't just allow her to fall, not after so much work was put into her. At the same time, he couldn't let the others know about it. Especially Shifu.

He was soon making his way to the kitchen, guessing that everyone was currently in the Training Hall for the time being. He had some free time to spare, mght as well cook for everyone so they could properly revitalize themselves. Cooking not only helped pass the time and assist in feeding people, it calms his nerves and allowed him to think a bit more clearly. Only a little bit, though.

 _I wonder how long this thing with Fenghuang will go...how far will will it go...or just a flat-out how far will it go. So far I've managed to break the ice...heh, ice. Who am I kidding? What I''m trying to do is break the glacier._ Po shook his head quietly while thinking it over. He got himself into this, this was what he chose, and he wasn't going to back out of it. _I dunno how I'm gonna do this...I just know that I gotta do it. I'll figure it out as I go along._

It took a few hours at best, but finally, his friends and Master returned from the Training Hall. And the first thing they saw was Po passing out bowls of noodles in front of all the seats, as well as gently steaming bean buns for good measure, and making sure that Shifu had his green tea. Once they spotted the assortment, they were rather hungry. They were slightly surprised by how carefully Po set them out, an were admittedly a bit curious. Though they passed it by for a little while as they seated themselves and began to eat.

Shifu and Tigress were the first to truly notice it. They have noticed for quite a bit, but this time it was really standing out. Tigress wasnt one to simply ignore it, and chooses to point it out. "Po..."

"Oh! Um, yeah Tigress? What is it?" Po said with a soft smile, attempting to reassure everyone...though neither Shifu and Tigress were very fooled. They could see an uncertain tiredness in his eyes that wasn't there before, and it was very worrying. At least to a small extent.

"We've noticed ever sice you passed out two weeks ago, you seem more tired than usual. It's not just laziness this time...you seem exhausted." Shifu explained while lightly sipping his tea.

"Is everything alright, Po? We also noticed that...well...you're not as 'yourself' as you used to be." Viper noticed, with the most concerned voice of everyone so far. "You've been...quiet. Very queit. You don't talk to us as often anymore, and you've been much more serious when it came to training. And it's not the kind of serious that's very healthy for you."

"Yeah man. It's like you're trying to reach Tigress's levekl of training, when we all know that you don't have the stamina. No offense to ya." Mantis stated, which Po casually waved off. "Seriously, what's up?"

Po blinked curiously as he rubbed his neck. "Nothing. Nothing is up, why would you think anything is up? Eheheh.~"

Crane adjusted his hat a little bit. "Are you sure nothing is up, Po? At first none of us really noticed and simply left it be...but now there's no denying it. It's not only that you look pretty exhausted, but you also look...skinnier."

Po couldn't help but chuckle at this. "Skinny? _ME?_ C'mon guys, be real for a second, it's me we're talking about! How can I ever pull off being skinny? You all know that I know my way around kitchens~" He was laughing it off as nothing too seirious...but Tigress heard a slight hitch in his chuckles, and could tell that it was being somewhat forced. Shifu was able to see it as well, wondering what that was about. He almost- _almost_ -took Po's word for it and simply left the matter alone...until he noticed that everyone had a plate except for him. Shifu immediately stopped drinking his tea, setting it to the side and looking Po directly in the eyes.

"You didn't prepare any food for yourself, Po?"

"Nah, you guys needed the fill way more than I did, as always. Then again, you guys are really good at balancing yourselves out, so I guess it's all good at some instances, right?" Po said while rubbing the back of his neck again. Though once again, he was caught by Tigress. Only this time, she wasn't too subtle about it.

"Po. Have you not been eating?" She asked slowly, and she was lightly clutching the edge of the table with her unblinking eyes trained on him.

"Tch, of COURSE I've been eating, TIgress! I dunno how you even came to that conclusion! I've definitely been eating!" Po laughed it off again, only for it to turn a bit sheepish as he twiddled his fingers and shifted around a bit. "It's just that...I'm eating a bit less than usual, that's all. No big deal at all."

"Uh...how much is 'a bit less' Po? How much have you _not_ been eatiing...?" Monkey asked, actually having to stop eating to further explore this train of thought.

"Po...have you been _fasting_?" Viper asked with her eyes wide with shock. "Po, you HATE fasting! Just **_thinking_** about it makes you cringe in horror!"

"Uh...is it really _fasting_ if you still eat every once in a while? As in... _only_ the end of the week? Because that doesn't sound like a decent fast to me..." Po rubbed his chin while tilting his head. " _Is_ it a fast, though? I can't really tell the difference..."

"You already know exactly what a fast is, Po. You've done so before!" Tigress said, raising her voice slightly. "Last time you went on a fast, you were barely able to last an entire day! And you're telling us that these past two weeks, you've only eaten during the end of each? You've went without food for six days in a row, and then did it _twice?_ What in the world are you thinking?!"

"What? It's nothing to worry about, guys! It's not like this is any sort of big deal! It just goes to show that I can be pretty disciplined when I really put my mind to it! Can't we call that a great feat?

"There's a fast of discipline...and then there's deliberately starving yourself, Po. What brought this on?" Shifu asked, now thoroughly, deeply concerned. "You've been incredibly humble, almost to the point of blatant self-depreciation. That alone was a bit worrying, despite our beliefs that you were going to be serious for a change. But now you're putting yourself through this...?"

Po twiddled his fingers again as everyone stared at him with various flashes of concern. Po sighed. He wasn't going to lie to them, but the full truth wasn't a great option either, not if he wanted to keep his interaction with Fenghuang secret. "I've been thinking over how I tend to act, guys...and I've been a pretty cruddy Dragon Warrior sometimes. Mainly because I get way too confident far too easily. I showed off too much, I ignored explicit warnings, I got too complacent...I was lazier than I used to be...a lot of these things did everyone more harm than good. Put you guys in danger...put innocent people in danger...far too many times for it to be acceptable. FAR too much." Po shook his head. "So...I decided to go about my way to regain my feelings of humility and compassion. I _need_ to do better. And I will. When I think back on all this...it kinda makes sense."

"What makes sense, Po...?"

"When you guys didn't really try to stop me from leaving when I thought I was turning evil. That particular time, you all acknowledged that I had skill and potential, and they were the real deal...but I now understand. Just because those things are true...that didn't really mean we were close enough friends for my departure to really matter. I was an idiot for thinking otherwise. And let's not even go into the whole Ke-Pa thing..."

Deathly silence followed after this, which confused the panda. While he genuinely didn't know why everyone got so quiet, their minds were scrambling. In regards to the former incident, them not even _attempting_ to stop Po from leaving must have filled him with abandonment, believing they had deeper bonds than that, only to be proven wrong. Only his father tried to keep him from leaving. And then there's what he just mentioned, Ke-Pa. The demon's release was definitely Po's responsibility, and it proved to be costly. While Shifu's harsh derriding of Po was also a way of keeping him and the Hero's Chi safe from Ke-Pa, the others didn't know that at the moment. Again, they simply let him walk away utterly ashamed and feeling lost. Again, only his father bothered to follow him and relieve him of some guilt. And when he came back in an attempt to fix things, he _**died**_. Temporary or not, he was never going to forget that.

Po was deeply traumatized, moreso than he cares to admit, or even acknowledges. Multiple times, they have easily abandoned him due to his excessive errors in judgement, which were from overconfidence and naivety, not from malicious intent. He never called them out on any of these things, not even once. Yet they continously derride him for his imperfections, letting him know that a handful of the problems they face tends to be fro his mistakes...he just takes it, fixes the probem he caused, and never brings it up again. These tendencies slowed as time passed and they all grew closer, but they were still there from time to time. Still, he never really brings it up again.

...Was he even _capable_ of holding a grudge? Because him being able to hold even a small one would still be preferrable to him believing that his being here was a mistake, yet stays anyway.

After the silence grew too much to bear- _heh_ -Po shook his head and clasped his paws. "Um...well, lemme know when you're done, guys. I'll handle the dishes today, kay?" He waved before stepping out of the room, leaving the others there to take in what exactly happened.

All that was left in the room was silence. And a very alarming rise in concern for their black and white comrade...

* * *

 **Remember all of those times when Po's complacency, laziness, or glory-seeking tendencies in LOA tends to be the undoing of himself and everyone around him? Consequences tend to be severe. A Stitch In Time was the closest call he's ever had aside from Enter The Dragon. The Panda is deeply traumatized, but he sweeps it nder and wears a smile because angsting about it aloud wasn't going to help anything or anyone. All he can do is make sure those things don't happen again. The incident in the former episode is becoming responsible for recreating some incredibly deep insecurities...**

 **Though he might be going a bit overboard to try proving his discipline and humility.**

 **What do you guys think? Perhaps Fenghuang has an input?**

 **We'll find out soon enough...next chapter.**


	6. A Work In Progress

Fenghuang was sitting around in her private cave as usual, wondering what was taking the panda so long this time. He was sure taking his sweet time, making her wait around like this. He was the one who arranged for this entire thing in the first place, she wouldn't really appreciate him taking too long to live up to his own promise. But the moment she thought about that possible outcome, she shook her head. The panda was naive, foolish, and childish, but a promise-breaker he was not. Even if it was to his very great detriment. And this was very much to his own detriment when he wasn't too capable of living up to high promises on his own.

He's far too kind for his own good, which baffles her as to why he insists to continue doing so. Even when he did his best to thoroughly explain to her why he does what he does, she still didn't completely understand. At most, she simply considered the panda's compassion slightly suicidal. Him caring about so many people means that he has to look out for nearly all of them. There was no way that he was capable of looking after everyone he cares about all by himself. He just couldn't let anyone alone, even if he tried.

But...something. Something about his unwillingness to throw away that integral part of himself...it genuinely impressed her. She still hasn't forgotten his desire to save someone she absolutely doesn't believe can be saved no matter how hard he tried. And that person was obviously herself. She found herself rather baffled by this, seeing as she willingly allowed herself to sink into the darkness with no intentions of turning back. And from that, Po found that it was possible to truly redeem her; she _sunk_ into darkness. She wasn't _born_ within it. She found that logic just slightly foolish, there have been plenty of people that have truly gone off the deep end with no return and _weren't_ born evil. Though to him, it wasn't really an excuse, simply an observation.

Still, it was unbelievable to believe that, no matter how little it truly mattered, it was still enough for him to try anyway.

Fenghuang pouted as she folded her wings and impatiently tapped her talons on the cold ground, pouting and closing her eyes. _Accursed panda. He makes plans to meet me and he still manages to be late. Does he not know that we're on a strict time limit? He's the one who brought this on, so why isn't he here yet...?_ Her thoughts were a very strange mix of annoyance, anger, impatience...and concern. But why would she possibly be concerned about him? They were supposed to be enemies! There really shouldn't be any reason for her to be concerned about him, and she could sense that it had nothing to do with the fact that he was her only key to saving her from complete erasure.

She was simply...worried about his well-being. Why would she...?

Her senses picked up on noise outside of cave that had nothing to do with the snow, and she was easily able to tell that it was Po's chi. Most of her thoughts were immediately swept aside as she focused on the current one; it was about time he showed up! The nerve of him, making her wait so long when they're on a strict time limit! This was no time for his laziness, not at all!

Po slowly climbed up to the entrance of the cave, then lied on his back while breathing heavily, lightly punching the air. "Whoo...made it...totally made it...all by myself...again...ah geez..."

"You're late." Fenghuang harshly scolded, though he didn't seem very effected by it.

"Yeah...sorry about that...I got a bit held up by a few things...I really tried getting here as soon as I possibly could..."

"Not soon _enough_ , panda. Why don't you try adhering to your own blasted schedule more than you actually do?! Bloody fool..." She huffed, though she raised an eyebrow at seeing how he looked more exhausted than he did the previous times. And she noticed something else. For some strange reason, he seemed to really be struggling to catch his breath this time. Though after a while, she managed to see a possible cause of his struggles. He seemed a bit thinner than usual...far too thin...Fenghuang knew that it was entirely possible for a panda to be thin...to an _extent_. This amount of thinness to his body, certainly did _**not**_ seem healthy for Po. Against her better judgement, she found herself concerned. "Panda. What's the matter with you?"

"Wha...what do you mean...?"

"Why do you look like you've barely eaten anything for days?" She watched his movements as he immediately sealed himself in awkward silence. That was a big tell of his; he doesn't like to lie, so he goes silent. Unfortunately for him, this was the only tell that she needed in order to tell what was going on. "You haven't eaten as much as you probably do. Explain."

Po sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck, realizing that lying to the owl-not that he was any good at it-would not accomplish anything but delays. So he simply got on with explaining. "I suppose...I have this unconscious desire to punish myself for my past failures via not eating...but it's not like I haven't done a fast already! I've done it at east once...barely survived it, but I DID do it. So surely I can handle six days without eating a week so I can focus surely on helping you..."

"...You're a fool, panda. And less secure than I thought you'd be." Fenghuang eventually commented with a sigh, greatly surprising the panda for a moment. "Honestly, you're actively starving yourself. What in that tiny head of yours made you think that was a good-" Fenghuang suddenly stopped in her tracks as she realized what she was doing. Criticizing the panda this harshly was not going to help anything. In fact, it would only make his recovery from this much slower. And the slower he recovers, the more time wasted that could be spent helping Fenghuang. Po must know this, which is why he's actively trying to pull himself together before it becomes a serious problem with their progress. She can't remove the block via harsh criticism; she needed something else. She needed to...lighten up.

At least...that's what she thinks it's called. She's been out of date for a while, she's having a bit of a hard time catching up.

"...Listen, Panda. You won't be able to help me as much as you'd want to if you can't even help yourself. This guilt you're feeling is not something the Dragon Warrior should be weighed down by, especially if he constantly insists on saving as many people as he can. And if you're not able to help yourself, then how can you possibly expect to be able to help others?" Fenghuang said while narrowing her eyes. Po blinked a bit and rubbed his neck.

"W-Well...I'm always prioritizing people before myself. It's just a way a hero does things, ya know? So if I have to exert myself a bit more, then-"

"Tell me, Panda. What is punishing yourself like this going to accomplish?" Fenghuang suddenly asked, swiftly stopping him in his tracks. "What's slowly weakening yourself going to accomplish? Nothing positive. All you're going to do is cause your loved ones to worry about you and for your strength to wane considerably. And if you don't keep your energy up, you'll tire out much faster during a time in which you really need your power. And I really don't think that's a situation you wish to be caught in, so i insist that you get your act together before it's too late."

"F-Fenghuang...I..."

"If you really wish to 'help me' as you're so desperately trying to do, then cancel your pity party and actually try doing something that aspires towards your goal, instead of wasting time hating yourself for things that happened in the past. And here I thought that the past had a significantly weaker hold on you because you're always choosing to move forward. What happened to that, Panda? You're no weakling, so stop trying to pretend to be."

Po blinked, completely astounded by her words. Not the words themselves, but the fact that _Fenghuang_ of all people was trying to talk him back up. Sure she was also criticizing him a small bit, but he could see she was really trying to not be very biting about it, knowing that it won't get either of them anywhere. She was really putting in effort to be genuinely encouraging, instead of forcefully putting him down for showing such weakness before her. Maybe this was her way of beginning to accept that there was truly no way out of her situation without his help, and she can't survive without if he busy beating himself up, he can't help her.

He seemed to realize this, as he slowly shook his head after a moment of thought, and he smiled towards Fenghuang. "Y...You're right, Fenghuang. I need to pull myself together, or else I won't be able to help everyone. I can't let these thoughts drag me down like they were! I can't help anyone if I'm busy being down on myself. I have to focus...hey...wait a minute!" Po beamed. "Fenghuang! You gave me some friendly, genuine advice to help me grow as a person!" He seemed to quickly forget the possibility of only saying those things to help her survive...but he also wasn't completely wrong about her being genuine with her words. "You're on your way to being a redeemed owl, Fenghuang! A hero does their best to provide inspiration for those they wish to inspire! Help them become better people!~"

"You're not gonna get all sappy on me, are you? Because you know that I really hate that."

"Nah. I think we've done our progress for today. What you've provided was more than enough for this session! It was amazing because you're the one who kinda instigated it. That's definitely a boost in progress for the both of us, and i'm immensely glad for that!" As Po gleefully remarks upon their jump in progress, he felt his belly rumble a bit, which caused his gut to shake quite a bit. He lightly paws it and sighs a little. "Oh man, I'm getting even hungrier! I'd better go back home and get something to fill it, before it really drives me over! I've bene on this extended modified fast long enough!"

"If there's one thing I can give you credit for, is that you managed to maintain this punishment on yourself without giving in, for quite a while. That's definitely a testament of your willpower, if nothing else." Fenghuang nodded.

Po blinked, and scratched his cheek with a smile. "Now you're giving me compliments and statements of approval? That's another surefire step forward!"

"Just go home and eat, you moron." Fenghuang waved him off. Po nodded as he turned and left her behind, making his way back down the mountain and heading home to have some lunch with his father.

Fenghuang could deny it as much as she wants, but Po could feel it. In her own way, her concern for his well-being was a large step-forward for her return to being a hero. Maybe someday, he could find it within himself to consider it safe enough to allow Mr. Ping to come along.

Regardless of what happens, they still needed to hurry. Every day that passes is another day towards her disappearance. So this jump in progress was very welcome to the both of them.

* * *

 **...Unbeknownst to Po, while Mr. Ping can be highly eccentric, he's definitely _not_ ignorant when he decides to pay close attention. Knowing his son better than anyone, shifts in behavior are very easy to spot. The only reason he hasn't said anything is because he trusts that Po knows what he's doing.**

 **That _one_ day a week that Po actually eats? Mr. Ping makes sure that he gets VERY large helpings throughout the day, before the fast resumes the next day.**

 **Mr. Ping is best Goose Dad, who will certainly have a much more involved role in these next few chapters.**

 **Until then-whenever that is-farewell!**


	7. Mr Ping

**I haven't uploaded this in a bloody year.**

 **Gosh freaking darn it. It just dropped off my interest...but it's back! Somewhat...**

 **At the very least, we get some progress in through a certain someone.**

* * *

Po had been feeling better lately. A lot better. He's begun to eat much more, and it's come to a great relief for his teammates and Father. It was quite a bit since he had his conversation with Fenghuang, and it's surprisingly helped him recover quicker than expected.

And that was a very good step forward for the both of them. Still, there was plenty of work to be done before they can consider themselves in the clear. In a way, Po felt quite bad for causing some issues for himself when it was Fenghuang that needed help. It was a good thing she helped him snap out of it.

As such, he was currently gorging on as much food as possible while sitting within Ping's Noodle Shop, with the goose himself sweeping about while doing so. He would look back at Po for a moment, smile, then continue sweeping.

In all honesty, it wasn't a very big surprise when one considered that he was the most worried about his son when he mysteriously stopped eating for a while. He had tried to see what had caused this change, and only came to the conclusion that he was trying to restrain himself so he could focus more on other things. Which was NOT easy to do. The _**very rare**_ times Po has ever gone on a fast, he's become completely delirious, imagining food, muttering about food, and even being desperate enough to eat what has gone _WAY_ bad the moment the fast was announced over. It wasn't difficult to figure out that the experience was not a welcome one, but Po has done this willingly, and considered it worth it for whatever he was doing it for.

Mr. Ping, as a loving and doting-if cheap-father, was obviously concerned about him during those times. But he never truly pried. Whatever Po was going through, he trusted him enough to work it out on his own, like he seemed to wish to do. And if he were to reach out to Mr. Ping for help on something? That's what father's were for, right? They help out their sons, unconditionally. Even so, Mr. Ping was quite itchy and eager to speak to his son aboit whatever might be troubling him, bit he had to restrain himself, lest he chase him away. Still, that didn't mean he couldn't just check, right? He didn't need to do any serious prying. Just ask the usual.

"Po? Son. Is...is everything alright with you?" Mr. Ping would soon ask, not turning towards him. Ni need to make a big deal out of it yet. Just have to keep it cool. Yeah. Mr. Ping can play things cool. Sure, no problem.

Po blinked as he set his bowl down, wiping his mouth a bit while staring awkwardly at said bowl. "Is everything alright with me? Uh...yeah, yeah! Of course everything's fine! Why wouldn't they be?"

"No no! I didn't mean it like that. I just...well. I'm only checking up on you. Father's can do that, can't they?~"

"Yeah! Course they can! Nothing wrong with that!"

"Right right right, so to be short and precise, we're pretty good as we are, right? Nothing serious going on? Friends are friendly? Food is good? Training is alright and going well?" _Is this prying? Am I prying without even trying? Hey, that rhymes! Ha-HA! Wait, no! Focus!_

"Yeah, we're good! All of those things are super fine and dandy!" Po grinned while hopping slightly. _Is he prying? Is he prying without even trying? If he tries too hard, or ends up discovering what I'm up to, he might start crying...hey, a rhyme! Ha-HA! Wait, no! Focus!_

There was an extended silence for at least a minute. It finally got too awkward for either of them to handle, and Po sighed while picking up his bowl and setting it aside for him to personally wash. He took a deep breath, and sighed. He can't be doing these things and end up worrying his father in the process. His friends were more mentally and emotionally sound, they'd be fine not knowing for a bit longer. His father, however, looked like he almost had a heart-attack from seeing Po put himself in a guilt-related fast when he wouldn't tell him the cause of it. He didn't want to put him through that.

There would be consequences for his next course of action. He knew it. He just KNEW that this was the beginning of the somewhat stable route they were taking beginning to take a drastic turn. Po KNEW that this was the point that his somewhat simple plan would become unnecessarily complex. But the biggest consequence of all, was the consequence that Fenghuang might possibly waste her chance at redeeming herself by killing him for making it so complex. He just KNEW. Being the clumsy panda that he was, he had a gut feeling-when it wasn't distracted by hunger-when things was going to go belly up for him for the duration of his path on this very difficult objective.

...But none of that matters. He can't deceive his Father. Not over something like this. Moronic he may be, he simply didn't have the heart to do so when someone other than himself was in serious trouble.

"...Actually, Dad. There IS something that I want to tell you about. And...I want you to understand why I made the choices that I made."

Mr. Ping jumped at the opening. He quickly waddled up to his son, gently taking his paws and patting the top of them. "Of course, of course, my son. You can tell me anything."

Po nodded, takes a deep breath, and sighed quietly while scratching the back of his neck. "Weeelll...it's a pretty long story..."

 _Fenghuang is gonna kill me..._

* * *

The owl stared blankly at the scene before her. There were many things she expected to do today, to focus on her training, how to avoid the blasted time curse thing, and overall dreading what kind of plan Po had for her. It was very clear that Po was a bit too nervous around her due to foiling her too many times to count. It was actually at least three, but her ego still considered it quite an unforgivable offence. It was clear that they would need something that could give their progress a little bit of a push. But she herself had no idea how to do that. She hoped that the panda did.

Then he came to her cave...with a surprise.

"Heeeyyyy..." Po waved weakly...with Mr. Ping looking up towards her with a bright smile and happier wave.

"Hello, Miss Fenghuang! Wonderful to meet you in person!~" The owl stared blankly at the both of them, taking a few precious moments to process what exactly Po had just done, and responded appropriately.

"I'm gonna kill you."

"Yup. I called that one..." Po chuckled, while Fenghuang facewinged.

"You moron...why? _WHY_ would you bring him up here?!"

"I couldn't keep deceiving my Dad over something like this, he's my Dad!"

"And you told him before telling your precious 'friends' about our little 'meetings' with one another?!"

"Yeah! Because Dad doesn't know you that well, doesn't have a personal vendetta with you, so he'll be seeing you without as much prior prejudice! He'll be seeing who you are with his own eyes and understand you with his own experiences!" Po said hurriedly. "Give him a chance. I really think he can help us out here."

"Tch!" Fenghuang huffed while turning to the side.

"Now now, you two. Let's get along a bit better than this, kay? I brought some noodles with me, and some bean buns. Should at least get you something warm to eat." Mr. Ping said while waddling past the both of them. "I mean seriously, a majestic woman such as yourself exiling herself to these mountains of extreme cold! It's quite absurd!"

"Yeah, well I can't exactly make accommodations anywhere else..."

"Ah, right." Mr. Ping shook his head as he set his basket down while turning towards the duo. "Now then, the first thing that I must ask of you is of utmost importance, so do answer me honestly." Fenghuang raised an eyebrow at this, as Mr. Ping folded his wings with a very stern glare. "Now then...is it true that you tried to seduce my son?"

"THAT'S NOT THE PRIORITY TOPIC, DAD! It wasn't even _THAT_ kind of seduction!" Po exclaimed wildly with a bright blush on his face. Fenghuang sighed while this time hiding her face in _both_ of her wings.

 _I am continuing to regret **many** of my life choices..._

* * *

 **Po gets an idea, a rather risky one. Mr. Ping wants to help. Fenghuang is beginning to regret many choices because of this alone.**

 **...Yeah, this won't test her patience at all.**


	8. Food and Kindness

**So long...so...very long...since last update...**

 **No excuses, just tiredness at my own...bah!**

 **Let's get to this!**

* * *

"Soo...are you SURE you're not seducing my son in any way?" Mr. Ping hummed while rubbing his chin and gazing curiously towards Fenghuang, while Po was sitting down covering his face, which was bright pink at this point.

Fenghuang sighed. "Yes, Mr. Ping. I am sure."

"Because judging from what he remembers and what you've told me, you were offering him power in a manner that seemed oddly seductive, and not just in that 'gaining more power' sense. There seemed to be some kind of vibe between you two."

"I can assure you, there was no vibe."

"Truly?"

"Yup."

"Because Po finds himself attracting _many_ strong and assertive females on an almost daily basis, and at least a handful are a bit older than him. Whenever he's on an especially important adventure for himself or his friends, a strong girl is sometimes involved with him. There's no clear pattern to it, but it does happen."

"I'm sure it does..."

"Honestly, you'd think that he was unconsciously building a harem..." Mr. Ping gasped and slapped his cheeks. "Oh my goodness...it might actually be possible! But what would the hierarchy be? Tigress is is favorite Furious Five member, so that might place her up top...would that make you the seductive mistress? How experienced are you at that?"

 _"DAAAAAAHAHAHAAAAAAD! STOP! **PLEASE** STOP!" _Po finally shouted lifting his head and placing his paw over his ears. "She was tempting me with power! POWER! **NOTHING ELSE!** "

"...Are you sure?"

" _ **YES!**_ Can we just drop that already?!"

 _Seriously. I'm actually thinking of ripping out my heart, crushing it under my talon, and letting Mr. Time Tree erase me just to escape this madness._ Fenghuang thought with a twitching eyebrow. This goose was driving her into insanity faster than decades of isolation.

That was quite an accomplishment.

"...Alright then, now that we've gotten all of that behind us for the time being, let's get down to business!" Mr. Ping clapped, completely dismissing the subject.

 _And then he does that without a second thought...now I'm understanding why the panda is so excitable..._

"Po. Whatever trouble you've gotten into with this woman, it is quite clear that you wish to help her." Mr. Ping said with simplicity that the context of the situation didn't deserve. "I suppose I can lend a wing or two to make sure that you succeed in doing so."

"...Wait...what?" Fenghuang blinked. "That's it? You don't even want to hear the full story?"

"If you want to tell me, that's fine. But regardless, I'm going to help Po help you." Mr. Ping nodded. He made it sound so aggravatingly easy, and yet Fenghuang could tell that Mr. Ping was being completely, genuinely sincere.

"But...but why? You know who I am by now, what I've done to various people, your son included." Fenghuang listed off, truly and genuinely lost. "I don't understand. You know all these thints about me by now, so...why would _you_ help me so willingly?" She was sure that the father would at least be more reasonable than Po. Though then again, Po must have gotten his simple-mindedness from someone. And Mr. Ping seems to be a very simple goose.

Of course someone as smart as her would be baffled and frustrated with how easygoing these two are.

Mr. Ping tilted his head, looking genuinely confused. Then he smiles sheepishly and moves a bit more in front of Po and Fenghuang. "When I was a young hatchling, my father always taught me how important food was to everyday life. It didn't matter what kind of food it was-noodles and tofu are high on the list, of course-what mattered was that it was not always made to only feed one's self, but also to share with others."

"...I do not understand your meaning." Fenghuang narrowed her eyes. _Why is this old fool speaking of food at a time like this? He really is Po's father._

"I remember that Po told me that he truly began to befriend and bond with the Furious Five when he began cooking for them. He earned their respect through sheer resolve and tenacity, and earned their friendship through his cooking skills, which further helped their hearts connect with one another." Mr. Ping continued. "It matters not the culture or origin. One of the most polite and humble ways to introduce yourself to someone is to offer them food. Not only as an act of benevolence, but in a somewhat practical way as well. Offering food to a newcomer to a different environment from their own is one of the chief ways to help them adjust to a new atmosphere. Case in point, the Furious Five and Master Shifu adjusted to a much lighter, kinder atmosphere within the Jade Palace once Po began cooking for them. From then on, their friendship has been solidified, and has only grown stronger since then."

"I still don't see where you're going with this..." Fenghuang grumbled.

Mr. Ping smiled, showing quite an admirable amount of patience. "My father taught me that offering food is one of the kindest gestures one can provide in life, and I believe in it so much that I taught it to Po. I hold that belief even as I run my shop. If someone comes in to eat, they shall not leave hungry. It doesn't matter who they are or where they came from, or even why they came to my shop specifically. I always provide service with a smile. The money I get from it is just a bonus. A really, REALLY nice bonus...but a bonus."

"Ehehehe..." Po rubbed the back of his neck.

"What if someone wants to eat but they can't pay you right away?" Fenghuang pressed curiously.

"I told you. No one who comes to my shop hungry will leave hungry. Pay or no pay."

The owl blinked. No sarcasm or malevolent impatience this time; she _really_ didn't understand where Mr. Ping was going with this, especially with that curve of thought. She thought she had him pegged, but clearly she was wrong.

"Sure, I'm not going to let them leave without paying at all. I'm compassionate, not crazy!" Mr. Ping emphasized by tapping his head. "But it doesn't have to be money. Instead, I have them work around the shop for a little while, mostly on days in which Po is busy with Kung Fu Duties. I speak with them, give them the basics on what to do and what's important when it came to serving customers. Making sure they leave happy and content. And more than that, it is a genuine gesture of goodness from our hearts. And with good service, invites good customers. And with more good customers means more people to interact and possibly befriend one another. Which not only invites a possibly of return customers, but it brings more good feelings to all, and to make each other happy. It always helps to bring positivity, especially in a workplace."

"Dad..." Po said with gentleness that briefly surprised Fenghuang.

"Simply put, turning away someone who wants or needs to eat is like turning away someone who needs help, or simply needs to be shown compassion. They will eventually succumb to hunger and starve, or succumb to darkness and never be able to come back from it. Someone who hungers for friendship and is starved of love will risk succumbing to darker impulses, in which they will fall further into them...until they barely recognize themselves. Much less their loved ones."

"...But...what if there was someone else who could do what you were suggesting. Why does it have to be you?" Fenghuang asked quietly.

"Of course, it doesn't _have_ to be me. Of course there may be others who might be just as capable of providing and nursing the positive feelings and emotions I described. However...I simply cannot use that as an excuse to not feed someone. Just like Po cannot use that as an excuse to deny someone who needs help."

"What...?"

"Someone comes through my shop looking to eat, they're very hungry. That should be enough reason for me to provide them food. Just like someone Po sees is in trouble, that should be enough reason for him to help that person." Mr. Ping hummed. "It does not matter if there is more to the story or if there's some other purpose to them meeting you. I will feed anyone who needs feeding, and Po will do the same, while also helping someone who needs help. Letting someone go hungry is little different from leaving someone unaided. We do these things with our hearts acting first and our minds thinking a bit later."

...Now that she's heard this perspective between good food and good decency that she's never heard before, Fenghuang can say with more certainty and less sarcasm that Po was truly taised well by Mr. Ping. It explained quite a bit about how Po tended to act. Being a great appreciator of food, denying someone who needed help was like denying someone who was hungry.

They truly _**cannot**_ bring themselves to do anything like that. It wasn't in Mr. Ping's nature. And thanks to his nurturing of Po, it wasn't in his, either. That trait of theirs was pretty annoying on paper. But seeing it in action and experiencing it...

Well, she has no idea how to express her feelings in words. Aside from being impressed with how strong their resolve is, given how much they've adhered to their nature and nurture despite how difficult it can be to hold.

"...I...I see..." Fenghuang said quietly, which was quite a surprise to Po. She actually seemed to be considering the meanings behind Mr. Ping's words. And he seemed to be completely sincere with every single one of them, as it was his own way of attempting to help Fenghuang.

She couldn't respond to that with cynical mocking, even if a part of her wanted to. Moral differences aside, she did have much respect for resolve. And discovering that father and son followed a particular path and stuck to it showed a great amount of resolve towards living their life how they see it.

In a way, she can appreciate that. She could now understand why Po seemed so adamant on helping her. It was just who he was...even if he can be such a massive idiot. And how simple and easygoing he and his father were tended to be very annoying.

...Then again, again, there was perhaps a sort of genius to being so simple, and innocent. They're almost never confused about what they want and why they want it, or what they're doing and why they want to do it. There was very little deeper thinking. It was just who they were.

And...that both impresses and confuses her. She could never imagine living so simply, yet they make it appear as easy as breathing. It was something that no amount of training could provide her. It was something that was simply done, it was a part of them.

As she was thinking this over, Mr. Ping smiled as he waddled over to her. "I don't know what lead to all of this, but my son wants to help you. While he might not have the greatest time using his noggin..."

"Ouch."

"...I can always trust the actions he makes using his heart. My son believes in you, so I will believe in you as well." Mr. Ping decided. "And I do believe that a major step on your path of redemption is to remove one distracting element from your mind: You cannot take part in it simply as a means to an end."

 _...What?_

"Redemption is not a destination, Fenghuang. It is a path. If you follow a road of redemption only to reach a certain end point to absolve yourself of wrongdoing or a certain fate, then did you truly put your heart into the journey? That's like saying I only have to follow certain recipe beats to serve my customers simply because that's what it's for. If no care is taken for the _process_ of how I make a dish, no matter how nice it may _look_ , the **_substance_** will never be good as it could be." Mr. Ping said wisely. "You might reach the result you desire if you focus solely on that...but you risk losing sight of why you desire it in the first place. If no care is taken in **how** you embark on a journey, then reaching your destination becomes meaningless, as you've lost sight of yourself on the way there. And journies are where friends, family, love, and bonds are formed. So by taking no care in your journey...you risk disconnecting yourself from others...and ending up alone."

"...I..."

Mr. Ping smiled. "In order to find yourself, you'll have to regain your will to make connections. They are not a weakness, but are our greatest strength. With each bond made, my business grows more successful and the customers more friendly to each other, and Po becomes better and stronger as a person and Kung Fu Master." Mr. Ping then reached into the basket he brought, a nice warm bean bun, and handed it to Fenghuang. "Lady Fenghuang...would you like to form a bond with me, as a gentle first step? Would you allow this wacky old goose the honor...of being your friend?"

After a moment of silent indecision, hesitation, and deep thought of what might happen after this...Fenghuang gently takes the bean bun.

Po's smile couldn't get any brighter.

* * *

 **I have once again regained my resolve. Not just for this story, but for writing these in general. At least a little. I'm gonna have to pace myself a little bit while also reminding myself that I do enjoy writing these. It's just that outside RL things and my own tiredness tends to interfere a bit.**

 **Not this time. This story, and possibly a few others, WILL continue!**

 **And it kicks off with a kind goose offering a wing-and bean buns-to a fallen, confused owl...**


End file.
